County news: Christmas Day online shoppers likely to log on before they open their presents

News

Published:17:00Sunday 13 December 2015

Christmas Day is set to be a time for merriment, presents and secret online shopping, new research has revealed.

The study, commissioned by TopCashback.co.uk, finds that whilst 15 per cent of residents will be online shopping on Christmas day, more than a quarter (29 per cent) will be doing so in secret, away from family and friends.

Keen to cash in on a good deal, 29 per cent of Christmas Day surfers will be shopping online in the morning, whilst 20 per cent will be sneaking off straight after Christmas dinner.

TopCashback.co.uk data from 2014 shows that the majority of shoppers on Christmas Day, chose to log on at 8am, before opening presents with their family.

Browsing peaked at 10pm once the Christmas dinner food coma set in and Downton Abbey and EastEnders had been watched.

Most were interested in picking up big ticket items, shopping with Currys and Debenhams, spending more than £850,000 on the day.

However, it seems many residents in the South East will be looking to cash in on discounts even earlier with more than a third (34 per cent) planning to shop on Christmas Eve.

Fourteen per cent of savvy shoppers will be looking for discounted last-minute Christmas gifts.

The study also found that around two-thirds (61 per cent) of residents plan to put off eating Christmas leftovers to fight their way through Boxing Day shopping crowds, spending, on average, more than two hours browsing for discounts.

More than half of (58 per cent) of residents in the South East said they have been putting off certain purchases for months in order to snap them up at a reduced cost.

Many shoppers will be bulk buying birthday presents (60 per cent) and stocking up on cheap toiletries (39 per cent) while others will be stockpiling Christmas supplies for the following year. A third of shoppers will be purchasing next year’s Christmas presents. Other popular items include wrapping paper (39 per cent), stocking fillers (28 per cent) and Christmas decorations (35 per cent).

Despite the hype around Christmas sales 30 per cent of residents in the South East will not be shopping because they will have spent all of their money funding Christmas preparations.

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